


Where I Just Came From

by JupiterMelichios



Series: Highschool Never Ends [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Superman (Comics)
Genre: Adoption, Cross-Generational Friendship, Families of Choice, Gen, Mentor/Protégé, Trans Clark Kent, Trans Jason Todd, Trans Male Character, Trans Solidarity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JupiterMelichios/pseuds/JupiterMelichios
Summary: Flackbacks and side stories from the Highschool Never Ends universe. Here be fluff and queer headcanons.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Jason Todd
Series: Highschool Never Ends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965763
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Where I Just Came From

**Author's Note:**

> I'd had a few ideas that don't fit into the timeline of HSNE, and I didn't want to derail what little semblence of a through line that story has, so I'm posting them sepperately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my doves, something a bit different today (different in that Jason is 12 in this, not different in that it's anything other than fluff and possitive representation). I spent two hours on the phone to the bank today having to justify my name to them because someone on their end keeps changing it back to my deadname on their system, which was a fun time. So since projecting onto batboys is apparently how I process all my feelings, I wrote a couple of thousand words of Jason having his gender respected to make myself feel better.
> 
> Warnings that this chapter touches on Jason having trauma from his time being homeless and his initial suspicions about why Bruce might be picking up random trans kids. Obviously nothing bad actually happened with Bruce, because this 'verse is all fluff all the way down, but if that's something you're sensitive to this might not be for you
> 
> I have made trans!Clark smol, mostly because I have this mental imagine of Diana doing the annoying tall person thing of leaning her elbow on Clark's head, which is hilarious and adorable to me as someone who has been that annoying tall person, but I have kept him canon-levels of the swole.
> 
> _Edit, because it just occurred to me that I should have said it and didn't: this story features a trans guy who has been pregnant, and a trans boy who would find that super dysphoria-inducing, but since we're seeing this from Jay's point of view, I just wanted to clarify his distaste by saying that if you're a transman (or anyone who isn't a woman) who is/has been/intends to be pregnant, you are valid as hell and that's totally fine. Jay's views are not intended to be any kind of judgement or censure, I'm just doing what I always do and projecting my personal relationship with gender onto him, even though I'm nb not male. (Also I know it's something trans men have been doing since the dawn of time, but men being able to get pregnant if they want to still strikes me as super scifi and cool in a very utopian-future star trek kind of way.)_

Clark Kent is… everything and nothing like Jason had expected, honestly.

He’s a good foot shorter than Jason had been imagining, but he’s built like he spends even more time at the gym than Bruce, the only softness on him is his belly. He’s got a biological kid, Jason knows, which probably explains the belly when all the rest of him looks like an action figure and makes Jason shudder. Everyone gets to decide what being a boy means to them and all that shit Dr Harley’s so keen on, but the idea of that happening to him one day is so just so many layers of squicky.

When Jason had asked Bruce what Clark was like, Bruce had thought for a long time and then said ‘wholesome’, and Jason can already kind of see what he means. He’s got this big happy smile like he’s here to hand out pamphlets about Jesus, and he’s dressed like a farmer on TV, well worn jeans and work boots and a plaid shirt over a henley. His hair even forms this perfect little wave over his temple, like the actors in the black and white films Alfred likes.

“You must be Jason! It’s great to finally meet you. Just let me put down all this-” he waves the string bag he’s holding “-and I’ll say hello properly.”

“Um. What is it?”

“Oh cheese mostly, some potatoes, eggs… I was visiting with my parents this weekend, and they always like to send Alfred some supplies if they can. It’s so hard to get good new potatoes in the city, the commercial ones never taste of anything, and Dick always asks for my ma’s colby.”

“He said it makes good grilled cheese.”

“Well he’s not wrong. There’s nothing like it!”

Jason trails Clark through to the kitchen and watches him unload the contents of the bag into the fridge. He looks more at home here than Jason. He tries not to feel jealous of that - Clark’s known the Waynes a lot longer after all - but it’s hard. Everything with Bruce still feels so temporary.

“Here,” Clark says, when the bag’s mostly empty, and pulls out a little white cardboard box. When Jason opens it it turns out to contain a tiny chocolate cake, with his name piped on the top in blue frosting.

“Bruce told my ma you got your first dose of puberty blockers last week. She thought you ought to have something to celebrate.”

“Holy shit. That’s…”

Clark grins sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. “She feels kind of guilty that she didn’t know about me until I was in my twenties, even though I didn’t even really know until I was nineteen, or I understand what I knew maybe, so she can be a bit… Well, you know. She joined a group for the parents of trans kids and she goes to Pride every year and gives out brownies and hugs to the kids who are there by themselves.”

“That’s amazing.” Jason knows his mom would have supported him, if he’d had the chance to tell her, but it’s never occurred to him before that she might have _wanted_ to know. That it might have hurt her that she hadn’t known. “I mean, it’s really cool that she supports you.”

“It took my pa a while. He’s kind of stuck in his ways, you know, not really great about learning anything new, but ma was great from the start. She went to university in Metropolis before she decided to settle down and run a farm, and she was kind of a hippy. She had loads of lesbian and gay friends, and she’s generally pretty open to new ideas. What she found hard was that there was this part of me she never knew was there all those years.”

“How was Bruce?”

Clark grins. “Weird, of course. He just made non-committal noises when I told him, and left basically as soon as he could without being totally rude. I’d pretty much just hit ‘well if that’s how it is then he was never really a friend worth having’ when he called me up. Turns out he’d gone straight to the library and read every book he could find on trans issues because he thought he didn’t know enough to be a good friend.”

“Wow. That’s… kind of extremely Bruce, actually.”

“Yeah it really is. We’ve been friends since I was a student, but he never stops finding ways to surprise you. Usually good surprises though.”

“Well the first time we met I thought he was a child molester so it’s pretty much only up from there. I mean, even the bad stuff is a good surprise when that’s your baseline.”

“Oh my goodness, what on earth did he do?”

“Fancy suit, fancy car, on pretty much the worst side of the tracks Gotham has, basically kidnaps a kid? My best case scenario was that he wanted me to join a cult.” He snorts at the memory. “I kept trying to cheer myself up that at least my mom had taught me to look after myself, so better me than one of the really little kids.”

Clark looks horrified. “Oh Jason, I’m so sorry. That sounds _terrifying_.”

Jesus, these fucking bleeding hearts. Tell them how the world really is and they react like you’re telling horror stories. It had just been… just… It had been...

To his horror he feels tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes, and he has to swallow to keep his voice from shaking. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Oh Jay… I’m going to hug you now, if that’s okay?”

That actually sounds really good. He nods, and gets pulled into Clark’s strong arms. His plaid is as soft as it had looked, and his aftershave smells like the incense Dick burns sometimes, smokey and spicy and sweet all at once.

Jason buries his face in Clark’s shirt and focuses on trying not to cry while Clark just holds him. He doesn’t try any of that soothing bullshit adults usually go for, just strokes Jason’s back and holds on.

Eventually he feels like he can stand up by himself and pulls away, but seeing Clark’s expression almost makes him start bawling again. “I’m okay.”

“You’re going to be,” Clark says firmly. “Bruce is going to make sure of that.”

“Well he put me on his insurance, that’s got to mean something right?” Jason’s been kind of dancing around actually asking Bruce what’s going on here, because he knows what he wants all this to mean but he’s still terrified it’s all going to get yanked away from him again. But… Puberty blockers. Bruce had added him to his insurance so Jason could get puberty blockers. That’s not something you do for a kid you’re not planning to keep around. Right?

He’s not going to ask. As long as he doesn’t ask, Bruce can’t give him the wrong answer. He cuts Clark off before Clark can answer by asking, “So, top surgery?”

Clark smiles at him. “You’ve got a few years to go before you need to think about that.”

“But you think Bruce would…”

“Of course he’ll pay for the surgery if you want it. When you’re old enough to actually need it.”

Clark’s talking like it’s a forgone conclusion that Bruce will still be in Jay’s life at that point, and he’s Bruce’s best friend so he ought to know, surely?

He’s just not going to think about it. Like Bruce said when he was trying to persuade Jay to stay that first night, take it one day at a time and if he turns out to be a flake at least you’ve had some square meals and a warm bed for a bit. “You want some cake?”

“Oh no, you’re under strict orders from ma to eat all of that yourself. Anyway, if my nose is telling the truth Alfred’s made fairings.”

Alfred absolutely refuses to cook American food, so all the cakes and stuff he makes have weird British names, but it’s all delicious. Fairings are these chewie cookies that taste like you mixed gingerbread with the pumpkin spice everything Dick loves so much. They taste kind of weird dipped in milk, but they’re good with the cocoa Alfred makes. “They’re in the tin with the roses on it. You want some milk with that?”

“You read my mind.”

Jason pours them both glasses of milk, and gets a plate to put his cake on because that seems like the sort of thing you’re probably supposed to do in a rich person’s house. Clark finds the cookie tin and brings it over to the kitchen island so he can sit on the stool next to Jason and still reach them.

There doesn’t seem to be a good way to start the cake without getting frosting everywhere so Jason just goes for it, sinking his fingers into the chocolate to pick it up and taking a big bite out of it like it’s an apple. He’s never eaten a cake that wasn’t in a slice before, and it turns out the benefit of that is that you don’t get frosting on your nose. He does his best to lick it off, but he’s pretty sure he’s just spreading it around. Clark looks like he’s trying not to laugh.

“So Bruce tells me he’s hiring you a tutor?”

“I difn…” Jason swallows his mouthful of cake and tries again. “I didn’t want to be in a class with a load of babies. I’m going to catch up over the summer and then start seventh grade after vacation.”

“That sounds intense.”

Jason bristles. He’s used to people thinking he’s dumb just because he’s poor but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. “I can do it. I’m not stupid!”

“Hey, no, I never said you were. I just meant it’s okay to take it slower if you need. It’s been what, two years? I don’t think I could have managed two whole grades worth of learning in one summer at your age. Honestly, I’m not sure I could manage it now.”

“I can do it!”

“Hey, if you say you can do it I believe you. Just make sure you find time for some fun in there as well, okay?”

“I don’t think Dick’s going to give me a choice about it.”

When Clark smiles his cheeks dimple, just a little bit. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“You really are wholesome, aren’t you?”

That actually makes Clark laugh for the first time. “Lex calls me Rockwellian, although I’m pretty sure he means it as an insult.”

Jason makes a note to ask Alfred what Rockwellian means later. He’s usually good at explaining stuff Jason doesn’t get. “Who’s Lex?”

“The father of my son.”

“So your ex.”

“Not exactly.”

Jason grins. “Your ex-booty call.”

“Jason!” Clark sounds so completely scandalised Jason can’t help laughing. “That’s not… We were… friends I suppose, though I’m not sure Lex would call it that. I’m not sure Lex has ever actually just been friends with someone.”

“So he’s your _sleazebag_ ex.” Mrs Tran who had the apartment across from them when Jason was a kid had had a sleazebag ex. He’d turn up sometimes asking for money, until one day Mrs Tran chased him out of the building with a cleaver, yelling in Vietnamese. That had been pretty funny. “Did he know you were a guy?”

“No, I wasn’t out to anyone then.”

“Bet that was fun.”

“Ah, Bruce told him actually. He always got on better with Lex than me. They were at school together.”

“Sugar-daddy sleazebag ex,” Jason translates, just to see the expression Clark will pull. “I bet it was one of those fancy schools where they make the girls wear plaid skirts.”

“It was an all boys school actually, but I think they did have a uniform. You should get Bruce to tell you about it some time, he has some pretty funny stories.”

“He does not.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He’s Bruce. He’s _allergic_ to jokes.”

“No, his jokes are just… idiosyncratic.”

“Ideo-whatsit-now?”

“Oh sorry.”

“Eugh no, don’t be sorry, just tell me what it means. Why are rich people all so weird about me not knowing stuff?”

“Okay firstly I am not rich.”

“Richer than me.”

“I… Technically, yes, I suppose so. But the house I live in doesn’t have a ballroom.”

A little bit of Jason thrills for that, for Clark talking about Bruce’s house like it’s Jason’s house too, like he belongs here. “I don’t see my name on the lease, so you’re still richer than me. Tell me what that word meant - ideo-si-something?”

“Idiosyncratic. It means… unique. Something that only one person would do. Like Bruce’s sense of humour is idiosyncratic because it’s just… very Bruce. So Bruce that most people don’t even know when he’s joking.”

“But he is. Joking.”

“Sometimes. And when you’re used to it, he’s actually a pretty funny guy. Seriously, get him to tell you about some of the stuff him and Lex got up to at school some time.”

“Is Lex funny?”

“Uh, yeah I guess. His jokes are mostly mean though.”

“I gotta say, you’re not selling me on the guy.”

“I wasn’t trying to. He _is_ my sleazebag ex after all.”

Jason grins for finally getting Clark to say it, and then grins even wider at the face Clark pulls when he realizes what he said.

“You’re a bad influence,” Clark says, gesturing mock-sternly with his cookie.

“Hey I’m just a kid. You’re supposed to be the responsible adult here.”

Clark dimples at him. “So I am.”

“So do you have a better boyfriend now?”

“No, no boyfriend or girlfriend. Why the third degree about my love life?”

Oops, busted. “I just… My mom had this friend right? Treasure. And I heard her say once that the only guys who are interested in dating trans girls are creeps and chasers, and I… Well I never met another trans boy before.”

“Hey now, you’re too young to… Actually scratch that, I just remembered how I felt about this girl Lana when I was your age. Sorry. It’s not true though, that only bad people want to date trans folks. I think your mom’s friend must have just had really bad luck. I’m sure you’ll meet plenty of wonderful people who want to date you, when you’re older.”

“Promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

Jason held out his pinky, which was only slightly covered in chocolate frosting, and Clark solemnly hooked his own pinky around it. “Promise.”

When Bruce told Jason he wanted him to meet Clark, Jason had mostly thought it was going to be lame. Like ‘oh you’re trans, you’ll totally get one with the one other trans person I know’ lame, but it’s actually kind of cool. It’s nice to meet someone else who knows what it’s like, and it’s nice to meet a grown-up who’s got this totally normal life, because that means maybe Jason can have a normal life if he wants.

Whatever the hell normal means when you’re a homeless kid living with a crazy millionaire.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter's challenge - it's black history month so leave me a comment telling me who your favourite black superhero is and why


End file.
